236 SECOND JOURNEY TO THE 



communication relieved me from much 

 anxiety, for the water was perfectly fresh, 

 and from the flood-tide having passed un- 

 perceived whilst we were engaged with the 

 Esquimaux, it appeared to us to have been 

 subsiding for the preceding twelve hours, 

 which naturally excited doubts of our being 

 able to effect a passage to the sea in this 

 direction. 



" The Esquimaux gradually retired as 

 the night advanced ; and when there were 

 only a few remaining, two of our men were 

 sent to a fire which they had made, to pre- 

 pare chocolate for the refreshment of the 

 party. Up to this period we remained 

 seated in the boats, with our muskets in 

 our hands, and keeping a vigilant look out 

 on Augustus and the natives around him. 

 As they had foretold, the water began to 

 flow about midnight, and by half past one 

 in the morning of the 8th it was sufficiently 

 deep to allow of our dragging the boats 

 forward to a part where they floated. We 

 pulled along the western shore about six 

 miles, till the appearance of the sky bespoke 



